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Post by joanne2 on Sept 11, 2008 18:57:58 GMT -5
I wish it was more porous.. I mean I'm SURE that these skins will absorb liquids quickly but.. they won't absorb SMOKE...SO>>>>this only means one thing.. this collection of rawhide would be BETTER OR BEST for braintanning IF they were readied with the prestretch having had a dunk first in a pre-brain.. like in the DINSMORES method, Figures.. days late and dollars short.. story of my life!.. no doubt in MY mind about a lot of things. Ah well there's always THIS years collecting.. sure this hide tanning has to be an obsessive disorder! oh yeah.. getting pretty excited to put out the old hide barrel once again.... It's getting to be 'about that time!' Yep.. I think I have the braintanners fever allright! I love checking the hide barrel every day. It's like getting Good Mail.. personal letter's 'stead of the usual ol bills! Some stash huh?? lol.. that' not the half of it.. but I can't help but be excited about opening day.. could hear folks sighting in their guns this morning. these pics are some signs of a serious addiction, now
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Post by 3balls on Sept 11, 2008 19:35:06 GMT -5
joanne I still love that smoke house, it's just a little full right now
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Post by joanne2 on Sept 12, 2008 9:03:53 GMT -5
Yeah it is just a bit loaded!.. and full of WASPS.. thought I was going to be stung a few times trying to hang all those skins in it.. anyway.. I plan to make a smaller bin with a pit like the Dinsmores use on the side of my smokehouse and I will use the old smoker for storage.. makes a great storage facility for my junkie hide collecting ways.. I have a good deal of punk wood allready stocked up in the bottom.. there is a floor in the area that the hides are hung so there is no easy way to modify that area for smoking hides and skins. I really like the way the Dinsmores smoke their skins.. no damned bunch of hullabaloo to smoke the hides just get a fire going and hang the skin in there.. how simple is that.. I sure as to hell wish I would have found the Dinsmore's method and stuck with tanning their 'easy' way cause I do believe that it is easier and just as simple to tan and soften hides like they claim it is.. Actually every hide in my smokehouse is quite similar to Bill Metcalfs in that they're all slick and compact as hell.. they have been dried in the framed but not worked so that they are open to accepting smoke.. so I would have been INDEED much further ahead to go their way than I am now.. I've just simply made more work for myself. Of course there are a lot of ways to 'skin a cat' for sure but I can well imagine (NOW, a little late in coming) that their hides and skins will soften with ease, no matter WHAT the climate.. pretty damned hot in my basement. yeah all you need is a fan but not so much to cool myself off but to whisk away the humidity while the skins are taking their time drying.. really very common sensical but remember that common sense AINT common.. it really isn't.. I know I can make things a LOT harder.. now I'm going to shoot for easier and Dinsmores method seems to make a lot of dAMNED common SENSE.. whatever the price for their video.. I think it will be well worth it in the long run.
Best of luck to ya Longtrail.
Paulette
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Post by longtrail on Sept 12, 2008 9:22:26 GMT -5
Pauletter, Wow girl! I wish we had that many hide piled up and ready to go. When I come to visit in Oct. Well soak a couple of your hides, put them on a beam sideways and see if we can get them to open up a bit. I am very confident that anyone who tries our method, and follows each step carefully, will be happy with the results they get. Of course with any method, the more you do it, the better and easier to follow the directions it gets. Gee, wish we lived nex to a road and could put a pail out for hides. Great idea!!!! You are one industrious woman. dlt
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Post by joanne2 on Sept 12, 2008 10:22:19 GMT -5
Well I'm sure we could get them to 'open up a bit', however doing so would require additional time and effort.. my point, entirely.. now if I'd just simply done my hides following your 'easy method' to begin with now wouldn't I have saved a great deal more of time and effort that well anyway the NECK of any deerskin might incur additionally? Course.. SIMPLE COMMON SENSE.. See what I mean?
Besides that every furskin that I've ever had the pleasure to work with has ALWAYS benefitted from being smoked..so I can rest assured that from here on if I'm going to devote the time to tan furs that I can simply plan to add that to my braintanning strategy and be much better off to begin with. Simple as that. I'm really glad I wrote to you guys cause well I am frankly pretty tired of working myself to death, lol. Yeah lampshades and miniature tepee models.. doesn't sound like too bad of an idear! I could start a lampshade business... hmmm lots of folks give me the deers legs.. ..hhhhmmm.. maybe I can make some of my own little shades and just buy the lamp parts pretty reasonable and assemble.. a million deer leg lamps.. or get the kids to do it?? Long as I can teach them to so a simple overhand stitch.. hmm.. they might be quite nice!
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Post by brainsoft on Sept 20, 2008 7:29:29 GMT -5
No doubt about it girl your an addict! Nice looking buch of everything you have there. I just roll up hides in groups of three or four and stick in a pile in the garage as it saves room which I am always short of here but having them like you do is good too as you can sort thru what you want easier. I put masking tape on the outside of mine so I have an idea of what is what. lol..the dozen or more in the freezer in various states are a different story tho. IKE blew my smoke box over as it blew thru here last week but did not hurt anything but the grass.
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